Some good old fashioned late 60s early 70s Chuck Heston sci fi dystopia, set in a world all too relevant today - overpopulated, riddled with crime and global warming, in hock to corporate interests. There are some quaint very 70s touches, such as the clothes, furniture, TV programs - and depiction of women (in the future, women still don't have decent roles in sci fi films, apparently). Still, this is a consistently interesting film, which is unremittingly bleak.
Heston's character is a genuine anti-hero - a good enough cop, that doesn't stop him from looting the apartment of a rich man whose death he's investigating for food and other stuffs; he also seems to coerce the man's mistress (charmingly described as "furniture" and played by a very pretty Leigh Taylor Young) into bed, punches out a black mistress, investigates the case to protect his job as much as a desire for justice. He is a bad ass, too, disposing of several henchmen at the Soylent Green factory and in a shoot out later on. He takes his shirt off a lot, has a steamy shower with Taylor Young, and flashes those teeth and indignation. It's quite a complex role, a heavily flawed man, and Heston does it well.
He is out acted, however, by little Edward G Robinson in his last film - easy authority and dignity. To be fair, Robinson gets the best sequence - signing himself up to the ethenasia program to go out with some nice music and visuals; we see Eddie G's little body draped in a sheet looking so small and I don't mind admitting I choked up a bit.
This was clearly not a big budget film but the budget is used wisely (a few showy riot set pieces). The ending is annoyingly vague - I mean, I know it was the 70s but why not show us whether Heston lived or died, or was believed or not... or whether Brock Peters ended up reporting his discovery, and whether anyone cared, or what happened to the Governor (Whit Bissell). It felt so abrupt.
The final twist is very well known these days - from memory it's in the trailer. It might have been a better movie had Heston found out earlier and then we played out the ramifications of that. Anyway that's Monday morning quarterbacking.
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